A different War
by Nodscouter
Summary: On the fields of Elysium, a lone Private is fighting a war. Having seen his friends been mowed down by the Batarians, he knows he has to stop them, whatever it takes, whatever the cost.  One-shot.


The machine guns rattled on. Round after round after round flew across the battlefield, occasionally slamming into metal containers or buildings, or sometimes the odd soldier who forgot to stay behind cover. They never stopped. When the first one stops, the next one takes the pace.

Batarian voices echoed across the field that had been a beautiful field a few hours earlier. The craters and burnt ground that was now there was as far away from that as it could possibly be. A lone private sat behind the metal containers as he cocked his pistol. His squad had been massacred by those guns. Blown or torn to pieces. He checked his pistol. Almost overheated. An old model, with many dents and scratches here and there. It would never survive this next overheat.

He grabbed it tightly between his hands as he dove out of cover, running for the next pile of craters. He lifted the old gun he had owned for so long, back from his childhood on earth, and fired several shots at the machineguns. A Batarian fell down as a slug connected with his head. Thick blood started to slowly run down over his eyes as the Private continued to discharge his gun. Another Batarian took a shot through the leg before the MG's were redirected towards him. A flurry of shots passed him right overhead before a few bullets connected with his right shoulder. His hand released the grip on the pistol as it fell towards the small tufts of green grass that still existed. He dove into the next cover area and touched his shoulder. The red blood was clearly visible through his visor. He sighed.

He slowly tried to move his shoulder before letting out a cry of pain. The Batarians simply laughed as they heard the pitiful sound. ''Stupid Humans'' they grunted. The private felt the rage flare up in him as he completely ignored the burning pain pulsing through his right arm. He grabbed his assault rifle. It was far newer than the pistol. He forced his arms into a position that made sure he was ready to fire it. He could barely move his arm, but he didn't care anymore.

He dove out again and charged the entrenchment. The machine gun was being cooled as the rifle's bullets impacted on the Batarians skins. Immediatly piercing their shields, they hit easily and they fell down, alive, but dying.

''Never leave a dying enemy alive.'' the words from his training echoed through his mind. He shrugged. ''I guess I could ignore my training for once.'' he said as he slowly walked away from the dying Batarians. An odd calm fell over the small battlefield.

The calm was not lasting however, as the next machine guns flared up again. He felt the heat of the planet burning through his helmet and he removed it and put it down on the ground, exposing his short brown hair to the sun.

As he felt the shockwave of an explosion close to him, he concluded it was best to put on the helmet again. He looked out from the cover, a group of marines were being mowed down by the MG's. He spun out of cover and prepared to fire a flurry of shots. The rifle's recoil hit his dislocated shoulder and spun the assault rifle high into the air, missing the target completely. The Batarians easily noticed that and quickly shifted fire from the squad of marines. They were already dead.

Several shots impacted with his gut and leg before he fell back into cover. He ran his hand over the wounds. As he looked at his hand again, it was almost completely covered in his own blood. He tried bringing up his omni-tool to apply medi-gel to his wounds. No response. He looked at the small electronical package that was the omni-tool. Completely fried beyond recognition.

The shot had hit a large blood vein. He knew the implications far too well. He steadied his assault rifle against his shoulder as best he could, ignoring the pain that flared up once more. As he prepared to dart out of cover once more a migraine hit his head.

He fell again, clutching his bloody hands to his head. His fall was stopped by Elysium's soil, charred beyond recognition. As his brain was in extreme pain, pictures of things that never happened flew before his mind.

''I'm going insane'' he whispered to himself as the pictures flashed through his mind. Suddenly, faces started appearing in the pictures. They were familiar, despite that he had never seen them before. A rough Turian face, a blue Asari face, a scarred Krogan, a Quarian's mask and two human faces, one male and one female, flashed before him.

''Snap out of it'' he shouted to himself. He looked at the assault rifle. It was cooled down. He grabbed it, steadied it and ran out of cover. He pulled down the trigger as his legs ached. A barrage of missiles came out of the barrel. The heavy sound of a machine gun firing started again. Explosions echoed around him. A single tear ran down his face as the first shot hit his foot. The faces remained in his thoughts as the next shots hit him. _Those unknown familiar faces... _he thought as he saw the final slug coming at him quickly.

* * *

''What about this one?'' the Officer pointed towards the body lying face down in the soil. His assistant walked over to it and turned it around, revealing several bullet holes to his face, chest, arms, legs, feet, hands and guts. ''Mowed down by a machine gun sir''. He slowly nodded as he clenched his fists. ''Goddamn Batarians.'' he whispered as he looked over to the Batarian corpses lying scattered across the battlefield.

He looked down again. ''Get his dog tag and let's go.'' His assistant nodded calmly and pulled the tags loose. He looked at them and read out the name imprinted on them. ''Private John Shepard.''. Kaidan looked at the name. He looked back at the corpse and a chill went down his spine. ''Kaidan, we have to get going.''. He nodded. ''Yes Lieutenant Anderson''. The two humans quickly left the body there and went back to the shuttle, but not before Kaidan looked a final time at the corpse.

_There's something about that corpse..._


End file.
